Page 38 of The Happy Month
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we have Anne saying that Larry wanted her to lie about the engagement. And Larry saying that his lawyer told him to hide his sexuality. That’s all we have in our favorright now. Harris says he doesn’t remember. I’m guessing there’s a transcript of the phone conversation Anne and Larry had in which he mentions the engagement. That works against us. I’m not filing a writ of habeas corpus until this is stronger.”
“What now?”
“Now we need to go over what he brought us. The three of us should spend the rest of the day on that.”
“I have a five o’clock interview. The Karpinski thing.”
“Okay, that still gives us plenty of time. We should order lunch. Does Dragon House still deliver?”
“Pick up only. I can go get it while Karen finishes the copying.”
“No, she’s almost done. Pizza?”
“That’s fine.”
Then she changed her mind. “No, you know what, the three of us should just go to Dragon House. We’ll bring the file. Have a working lunch.”
“Sounds good.”
“My treat.”
It took about half an hour to get everything together. I pulled out three more three-ring notebooks. Fortunately, we had a lot in our supply cabinet. When Karen was done, I started punching holes in the copies. Then we put two files together. Karen grabbed a bunch of tabs, while I grabbed one of the thick transcript notebooks to have with us if we needed to look at it. We took Lydia’s BMW since there was room in the backseat for everything we’d decided to bring.
Dragon House was three doors down from Hot Times and right next door to Star of Siam. It was owned by a Chinese family named Long. Ronnie had explained that in Chinese Long meant dragon, so the Chinese symbols on the menu also meant Long’s house. It was the family business,which was apt since the matriarch, Sue Long (whose Chinese first name was actually Shuye but—Americans…), ran the place with two sons in the kitchen and half a dozen granddaughters waiting tables.
The walls were red, adorned with gold sconces wearing little gold shades. The tables were covered in red tablecloths which themselves were covered with a circle of easily cleaned glass. The main dining room had booths on two sides and an open area for tables, double doors into the kitchen, and an ornately arched entrance into a second, roped-off dining room.
When we walked in it was crowded, but we were the only ones in the waiting area. Sue Long, small but imperious and in her mid-eighties, immediately came out from behind the cashier’s desk. She knew me. I’d been in frequently with Ronnie, and sometimes with Junior and Ronnie, and a few times with Mai and Ronnie. She was famously thought to be psychic and once touched my arm and said, “There is much strife for you.” She might have been reading my past, hopefully not my future, or—just as likely—the bumps and twists of my frequently broken nose.
That day, she noticed everything we were carrying and said, “Come. This way.”
We followed her over to the roped-off second dining room. She pulled back the rope and sat us at the first large round table. It was set for six but could accommodate eight if necessary. She picked up three of the settings and we set down our notebooks in the now empty space. Before she left, she turned the lights on for that room, and said, “Lin will be waitress. Important work.” Then she left.
Lydia asked Karen, “What did you think of him?”
“I think he’s seen too many movies where stupid White men get everything they want.”
Lydia looked at me. I said, “I’m not going to disagree with that. He’s still a public defender, that means he’s either a crappy lawyer or he’s got a savior complex or both.”
“We need public defenders. It’s a decent thing to do. But you’re right, the good ones don’t stay long and the bad ones stay forever.”
“You did really piss him off,” Karen said.
“Was that your plan?” I asked.
“I had a feeling he might have memory problems.”
Lin arrived. From a tray she took a pot of tea and three handle-less cups, setting them on the table.
Lydia said, “Could you bring us crab wontons and shrimp egg rolls? Two orders of each. And then we’ll have the walnut shrimp, the crispy duck, and the scallops and peas.”
She’d just ordered the most expensive things on the menu. Probably because Sue Long had given us a private room. She looked at us and asked, “We’ll share. Is that okay?”
Karen and I nodded. Then Lydia added a dragon fried rice to the order, the fried rice with everything in it. Lin asked if we wanted egg flower soup or hot and sour soup. When we’d chosen, she left.
Pouring us all tea, Lydia said, “Let’s find the report from the first officer on the scene.”
